Thinking of driving down to Southern Spain...
Hi Peeps,
I've probably left this a bit late...
My wife and I would like to drive down to Southern Spain in our van conversion this winter. Well, just after Christmas day.
It will be a bit of an "adventure" because we have yet to actually make any solid plans.
What I am thinking is, cross over to France via the Chunnel (ferries all fully booked) and then meander down to Perpignan to cross over the border on the D900.
Intention is to avoid all tolls. I know that just makes the journey long, slower and more arduous, but we're in no rush.
We would then hug the Spanish east coast, as much as it is practical to do so and make our way to Marbella, perhaps. I reckon this could take a week, there or there abouts.
Are we a bit mad for not making detailed plans?
Will we come unstuck trying to find places to stop over night?
We invested in a couple of camping and Aires books so we are hoping that they will help.
I think the most worrying thing is travel insurance. Normally, most companies want to know where you are going and how long for. We don't really know the answer to that question as we will be making it up as we go along.
I suppose I had best making some enquiries but, in the meantime, if anyone has any advice, even if it is "Dont do it!" I'd appreciate it.
cheers
andy
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We are off the Malaga on the 2nd January, we are using the toll roads and are taking about 4 days travelling about 6 hour a day. Never done it before so im sure that others will be able to give you some advice but there are plenty of aires open. We are stopping in an aire on night one and camp site night 2 to get a shower as we have a little van conversion then night 3 an aires again.
We are looking at it as a bit of an adventure and will probably make it up as we go as we dont need to be anywhere at any set time as we are renting a friends apartment for a few weeks. Take it as it comes and enjoy
Kev
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agree with Kev, just go with it....you have a panel van which you can park anywhere, aires, on the street or even in the odd LeClerc or Intermarché car park...France and Spain are overrun with parking places.
aires wont need booking, nor will most of any sites you decide to stop at, unless they are well known 'Snowbird' venues, but even then, a quick call might be all thats required.
bit late to get an acsi book now (unless Vicarious books can pull of some miracle....) but there are plenty of other sites to use.
for aires (probably far more than you have in the aires books) have a look at www.campingcar-infos.com (which is in french but easy to use).
there is an android app available, but sadly none for ipad yet.
their satnav POI files are easily downloadable.
also, the campercontact app is a good one, for a few pounds you can get access to all the 'rich' data of their stopping points, but its also available on the web.
we wont be off for a few weeks yet, but have a wonderful time.
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I have been a few times in the winter and very early spring and will be doing so again in 2018. I second the use of the >campercontact app<.
I prefer to use a route down the western side of France and cross the Pyrenees usually via the Somport Tunnel and on to the municipal site at Zarogossa. Generally the weather can be less harsh on the western side of France and for keeping an eye on that I use >Weather on Line< and for snow conditions in the Pyrenees I use >this site<. I also find >Michelin's web site< very useful for checking road conditions/traffic/closures. Today you can see the Somport Tunnel is open and running freely.
peedee
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I don't know which travel insurance you have looked at but the likes of Red Pennant will ask you what countries you are visiting but won't tie you down to being in a particular country for any number of days. I assume it's this Christmas Day you are talking about which might make arranging travel insurance a bit more difficult because of the holidays. If it can all be done online you will be OK but if there are any questions that need answering that might be a problem.
David
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We've had to stop our annual winter trips to Spain and Portugal for medical reasons, so we envy your upcoming adventure! Don't forget that it's winter and and until you're south of Lyons or so, snow and ice are still possibilities. We would advise that you stick to the Peage most of the way as the roads are kept clear of snow and ice, and are regularly patrolled by police and autoroute maintenance. We would also suggest using campsites with heated shower blocks, and electric hook-ups. We've posted our route
so many times on here that it's beginning to fade, but here it is:
"The weather in northern France is more or less the same as southern England. We've driven down the A26 from Calais behind a snowplough, and often in fog and frost! The autoroutes are kept open in all but the direst of conditions. The whole system is constantly monitored.
Once you're south of Lyons, snow is seldom a problem. Crossing the Pyrenees, you may have to wait for the snowploughs to open the road; however, in 12 years that's never happened to us ( touch wood).
We have a set route, mainly on the Peage (our modest motorhome is ‘classe 2’).
Here's our route from Calais:
1. Soissons - Camping Municipal du Mail -164 miles
2. Beaune - Camping les Bouleaux - 250 miles
3. Nimes - Camping Domaine de la Bastide - 272 miles
4. le Barcares - Camping Club Europa - 156 miles or Les Olivers at Le Boulou.
5.Hospitalet de L'infante ( south of Barcelona) - Camping Cala d'Oques - 200 miles. (not in ACSI, but they give a discount to card holders)
None of them bookable but open all year. Soissons was rumoured to have closed in winter, but ACSI and Ukcampsites both say it’s still open all year
Head for St Quentin,Soissions, Reims,Troyes,Dijon, Lyon (Rocade Est to Marseille), then Nimes, Montpellier, Narbonne, Perpignan. Barcelona then Valencia. Needless to say, don't enter any of these cities, just use them as indications of which routes to follow."
Camping Cala d'Oques
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Chas
I seem to recall that the Municipal at Soissons is now not open all year?
David
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I've just re-checked the Aisne tourist website and Camping Du Mail doesn't open until 1 April - Sorry about the duff gen. ACSI and UK Campsite.co.uk are still showing as being open all year. There is an aire in Soissons but we've never used it. I guess that puts a big gap in our 'route'!
However, we've also stopped at this delightful family run site. We got stuck in the mud but grandpere towed us out with his kangoo! https://www.campinghortensias.com/
Look it up - it's not far off the route south and open all year round!
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Chas
It is a shame about Soissons especially as they had installed about half a dozen or so reinforced pitches just inside the entrance. We stayed there in June 2016 and it wasn't that busy then if it hadn't been for a rally. The other site looks nice.
David
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If you do decide on a western route, a description of my route can be found >here<. Apart from it being one of the shortest I like it because at Bordeaux I can decide, depending on weather conditions, whether to keep heading for the Somport Tunnel or to keep further west to skirt round the Pyrenees via Irun and San Sebastion. I can even defer that decision until as far south as Aire sur L'Adour.
A variation on the route from Rouen is to go via Le Mans. to Bordeaux. It is not quite so direct, is a little more tedious if like me you don't use the autoroutes very much but it has the advantage of more stopping places available. Again the route decision depends on the weather.
peedee
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Peedee, your mapping is great! Thanks for the link. I am reading this with interest as we hope to travel a bit further afar at some point. Friends are off to Portugal any day now, we'd be using a Portsmouth route so a bit different for us.
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Brue, coming from your part of the country, we 'do' Poole-Cherbourg as its such any easy trip to and from the port.
its also then very easy to hug the west coast route, Nantes and then on towards Bordeaux and to Irun where Peedee's route can be picked up.
we tend to do Pamplona, zip past Zaragosa and then drop down to Valencia, this can be done in one 7hr day with stops....uncluttered dual carriageway (A23) all the way other than the few miles getting around Zaragosa....even that can be avoided by a cross country 'short cut'...
good luck.
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Hello everyone
Thank you so much for all the information above.
Still not booked anything and right now our short term plan is to nip into North Wales for a couple of days. Anything to get away from our house.
We have some Vicarious books now so we will have at least some ideas of where to stop.
I will look at the various routes posted here.
Cheers, and have a great Christmas everyone.
andy
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For what it's worth... you can buy ACSI books over the counter at a number of caravan/MH dealers in Spain. Google 'ACSI books in Spain' and follow the link to ACSI sales points in Spain. You might be close to one - who knows!
Good luck - and enjoy!
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